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Stem cells are used to treat disease and injury by stimulating the body to repair itself eg. Bone marrow transplants. Stem cells can potentially be used to cure blindness, stroke, and spinal cord damage. Embryonic stem cells have the potential to generate any kind of cell or tissue. However, adult stem cells can only be used to make the type of tissue that they are in. The discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells has the potential to revolutionize stem cell treatments. Induced pluripotent stem cells are adult stem cells that have been treated to revert to an embryonic like state. Stem cell treatment are very new and there is still a lot of potential left in the field, and along with it also the potential to change millions of lives.

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Lily Z.

9/26/2017 02:48:08 pm

References: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature23666

In the Human Glioblastomas (GBMs), there is something that can create tumor initiation, maintenance, and recurrence after therapy, This is called a glioblastomas stem cell (GSCs). Scientists of 2017 still are not sure where these GSCs came from. However, they realized a way to possibly get rid of it seperately. They claimed that "[GSCs] can be separately targeted using epigenetic compounds" (nature) which indicates that glioblastoma-targeted therapy will possibly begin starting in the future. It is very important to get rid of these glioblastoma stem cells in the human body due to the fact it can create tumors, maintain it, and allow it to reoccur even after therapy.

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Daniel L.

9/28/2017 03:13:52 pm

Examples of embryonic STEM cells in real life are teenagers and children. Young people could do anything they want in their life, from a scientist to a engineer, but their decision to do something could e influenced by parents and peers. This is like how the embryonic STEM cells could become any type of cell, they are however, influenced by surrounding cells.

Cites: note - Cell Specialization & Stem Cells

Examples of adult stem cells in real life are students that want to get another degree. Adult stem cells can only become certain types of cells, for example, hematopoietic stem cells can only specialize into different types of blood cells. Some university students want to get another degree, however, they don't go into a completely different field, they only go into a same or similar field as they have previous experience.

Cites: https://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/4.htm

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Andy M.

9/28/2017 04:21:10 pm

The japanese, world war 2 and cancer

The second world war changed the japanese people a lot from how they act to what they eat. This also changed what diseases and more specifically what types of cancer they got. Before the war the most common cancer was stomach cancer probably because of their diet consisting mostly of plants, rice and high amounts of salt which all promoted stomach cancer. After the war Japan quickly westernized and with that they started eating meats much more regularly, and with this mortality rates from pancreas cancer rose from 1.4 (per 100,000 men) in 1950 to 13(per 100,000 men) in 2010 and colorectal rates rose from 8.5(per 100,000 men) in 1950 to 21(per 100,000 men) in 2010. Also stomach cancer mortality rates fell from 87.3(per 100,000 men) in 1950 to 28.2(per 100,000 men) in 2010.What we can learn form this is that diet will influence what disease and what cancer you will probably will get.

http://ghrnet.org/index.php/JT/article/view/805/913

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Aaryan P.

9/30/2017 06:57:01 am

Leukemia is the cancer of white blood cells. It results when leukocytes begin growing and functioning abnormally. Most treatment of leukemia tries getting rid of all these abnormal leukocytes to let the healthy ones to grow. This is typically done with chemotherapy but sometimes this won't eliminate them all. Scientists/physicians are looking into bone marrow transplants using a donor's stem cells. In this process the patient's bone marrow and abnormal leukocytes are killed using chemotherapy/radiation. Then they insert a sample of the donor's bone marrow containing the stem cells into their bloodstream. If scientists can perfect this method stem cells will migrate into the patient's bone marrow and start allowing healthy leukocytes to undergo mitosis instead of the abnormal ones.

Sources: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/stemcells/sctoday/

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Ellen. T

9/30/2017 06:35:57 pm

CANCER
Based off 2014 data there was an estimated 14.7 million people living with cancer in the United States alone, and approximately 7.6 people die from it per year worldwide. Cancer is caused by a cell that grows and does not die. This one mutated cell will have incomplete DNA information therefore after that one mutated cell divides, created more mutated cells with incomplete copies of the DNA. A large number of these mutated cells over time is diagnosed as cancer. It affects many people but has some treatments that can stop, shrink, or rid completely of the cancerous cell like radiation or chemotherapy. When the mutated cell has spread to the other parts of the body it becomes more difficult to treat because it has started to destroy other healthy tissues in your body. Treatments like radiation also affect healthy cells when attacking the cancer. This is how cancer can affect our daily lives.

Stem cells can be seen in the world around us in many different ways. One of the prominent ways in which we come into contact with stem cells is when we hear about research that is being completed in the field of stem cell research. Stem cell research has the capability of curing many different ailments and diseases, while eliminating certain risks that would be found in other treatments, such as rejection. This would make organ transplants much easier, and the overall process much swifter.

Stem cells are also being used in drug testing. By using pluripotent stem cells, scientists can test drugs on muscle cells, or even toxicity levels in liver cells, that have been grown from stem cells, and not be harming any people or animals at all. However, the condition in the testing lab and the conditions in real use must be identical, so scientists are forced monitor the stem cells' behavior very closely to ensure that the stem cells specialize into the desired tissue.

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